Drawer arrangement for refrigerators



May 15, 1945. G. H. CLARE 2,376,032

DRAWER ARRANGEMENT FOR REFRIGERATORS Filed NOV. 22, 1945 (#1 JJz zz I U 1 -y 3; i i

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thingswhich are at the front of each drawer 55 Patented May 15, 1945 UNITED. STATES "PATENT OFFICE DRAWER ARRANGEMENT non. nnrnroamrons Myinvention relates to improvements in refrigerators or ice boxes and more specifically; to

a new and improved drawer arrangement for refrigerators.

The food compartment of a refrigerator .is usually subdivided by several horizontal shelves which consist of perforated plates orof screens and which are firmly secured, one above the other, to the inner vertical walls of the food compartment. The various food and beverage items are placed upon these shelves, and since the food compartments are usually of a considerable depth it is .diillcult to reach objects placed on the rear portions of said shelves. It is, therefore, one object of my invention to provide the interior of a A still further object of the present invention I is the provision ofa drawer arrangement for refrigerators which is simple in, construction, light in weight, and cheap to manufacture, but which refrigerator with drawers instead of with fixed shelves, so that it will be no longer necessary to reach over the food and beverages in the front of a shelf in order to gain access to things which happen to be in the rear.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a drawer arrangement for reirig erators which not only can be provided for newly manufactured refrigerators, but which also can be placed into all standard refrigerators that hitherto have been used with aflixed shelves and which can be simply inserted into a refrigerator frigerator for the purpose of cleaning or lubricatin the same. e

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a drawer arrangement for refrigerators which allows the drawing out and pulling in of the drawers with a minimum'of effort.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of a drawer arrangement for refrigerators-which will limit the movement of each drawer sothat it cannot ran out of the refrigerator if it'is drawn out vehemently.

Yet another object of the present invention is the provision of a drawer arrangement for refrigeratorswhich will afford accessibility of those without drawing out that drawer at all.

ators which can easily be removed from the re is well adapted to withstand the rough usage to which such devices are usually subjected.

Further objects of the instant invention reside in any novel feature of construction or operation or novel combination of parts present in the embodiment of the invention described and shown in the accompanying drawing whether within or without the scope of the appended claims and irrespective of other specific statements as to the scope of the invention contained herein.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2--2 of Figure l, and

Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure'i.

Similar numerals refer to sar parts throughout the several views.

The refrigerator itself is indicated in dash and dotted lines, whereas the embodiment of the invention is shown in full lines.

Two parallel, vertical side portions, i of metal, plastic material or the like, and the crosspieces 2 and 3, which are secured to the side portions i by means-of welding or in any other suitable manner and which are adapted to hold the side portions i in spaced relation to each other, comstitute the framework of the drawer arrangement. The parts i, 2 and 3 are so proportioned that said framework fits into the food compartment of a standard refrigerator and that, when said framework is placed into the refrigerator, the side portions 8 are adjacent to the inner side walls i of the food compartment.

Two rows of rollers it turn on two rows of pins i i, which are secured to the lower part of the side portions i, and which are-adapted tocarry the lower drawer B. In order to save space, I

, prefer to make the bottom I: of the drawer 8 u-shaped in cross section as will be seen in Figure 1, thus forming two open grooves it which engage the rollers i0. Whereas the lowest drawer 8 is carried by two long rows of rollers it, I prefer to provide for carrying each .of'the other drawers 5, 6, and l rtwo' short ,rows of rollersl5 (two rollers IS on each side in'the instance shown) and secured to the front part of the side portions I, by means of pins IS onwhich the rollers 15 turn, and an angle iron. II, which is slightly inclined from the rear wall'of the food compartment downward toward the door 23, be-

hind each row of rollers l5 secured to the rear part of the side portions l. vThus, when a drawer 5, 6, or I is moved, the main portion of its weight is being carried by the rollers ll, which facilitates the drawing out or pushing in of the drawer, and only a point of the bottom of the drawer is being slid along the inclined upper surface of the angle irons ll. Each drawer consists of a perforated bottom 20, to side panels 2| and a rear panel 22. The rear panel 22 of each drawer and the adjoining rear portions of the side panels 2| are higher than the major portions of the side panels 2| so that said rear portions will limit the movement of the drawer by hitting rear rollers 15 when the drawer is drawn out, as may be seen in Figure 2 (drawer 6) Thus the drawers are open at the top and at the front so that those things which are at the front of each drawer are accessible, when the door 23 of the refrigerator is open, without moving the drawers at all.

Drawers which are at the same level as the cooling unit 24 of the refrigerator, as in the case with drawer 5 in the instance shown, have a. re-- cess 25 in the bottom 20 which surrounds the without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is:

A drawer arrangement for refrigerators comprising a rectangular frame adapted to fit into the food compartment of a refrigerator and having two parallel vertical side portions which, when said frame is inserted into a refrigerator, are adjacent to the inner side walls of the food compartment; a plurality of short parallel rows of rollers in spaced relation to each other secured to the front parts of said side portions; a. ledge I behind each row of said rollers rectangularly cooling unit. when this drawer or sliding box is pushed in.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification,

it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made bythose skilled in the'art the rear rollers of the rows thereabove to limit the outward movement of the drawers, and each drawer having a perforated bottom and being carried by two opposite rows of said rollers and by two opposite ledges, all substantially as described.

' GEORGE E. CLARE. 

